We're surrounded by fringe theories, fake news, and pseudo-facts. These lies are getting repeated. New York Times bestselling author Daniel Levitin shows how to disarm these socially devastating inventions and get the American mind back on track. Here are the fundamental lessons in critical thinking (previously published as A Field Guide to Lies) that we need to know and share now. Investigating numerical misinformation, Daniel Levitin shows how mishandled statistics and graphs can give a grossly distorted perspective and lead us to terrible decisions. Wordy arguments on the other hand can easily be persuasive as they drift away from the facts in an appealing yet misguided way. The steps we can take to better evaluate news, advertisements, and reports are clearly detailed. Ultimately, Levitin turns to what underlies our ability to determine if something is true or false: the scientific method. He grapples with the limits of what we can and cannot know. Case studies are offered to demonstrate the applications of logical thinking to quite varied settings, spanning courtroom testimony, medical decision making, magic, modern physics, and conspiracy theories. This urgently needed book enables us to avoid the extremes of passive gullibility and cynical rejection. As Levitin attests: Truth matters. A post-truth era is an era of willful irrationality, reversing all the great advances humankind has made. Euphemisms like "fringe theories," "extreme views," "alt truth," and even "fake news" can literally be dangerous. Let's call lies what they are and catch those making them in the act.

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About the Author

Daniel J. Levitin, Ph.D., is Founding Dean of Arts & Humanities at the Minerva Schools at KGI, a Distinguished Faculty Fellow at the Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley, and the James McGill Professor Emeritus of Psychology and Music at McGill University, Montreal, where he also holds appointments in the Program in Behavioural Neuroscience, The School of Computer Science, and the Faculty of Education. An award-winning scientist and teacher, he now adds best-selling author to his list of accomplishments as This Is Your Brain on Music, The World in Six Songs and The Organized Mind were #1 best-sellers. His work has been translated into 21 languages. Before becoming a neuroscientist, he worked as a session musician, sound engineer, and record producer working with artists such as Stevie Wonder and Blue Oyster Cult. He has published extensively in scientific journals as well as music magazines such as Grammy and Billboard. Recent musical performances include playing guitar and saxophone with Sting, Bobby McFerrin, Rosanne Cash, David Byrne, Cris Williamson, Victor Wooten, and Rodney Crowell.

Reviews

Winner of the 2016 Mavis Gallant Prize for NonfictionOne of Hudson Booksellers' Best Business Interest Books of 2016 "Daniel Levitin's field guide is a critical-thinking primer for our shrill, data-drenched age. It's an essential tool for really understanding the texts, posts, tweets, magazines, newspapers, podcasts, op-eds, interviews, and speeches that bombard us every day. From the way averages befuddle to the logical fallacies that sneak by us, every page is enlightening."--Charles Duhigg, author of The Power of Habit and Smarter, Faster, Better "The world is awash with data, but not always with accurate information. A Field Guide to Lies does a terrific job of illustrating the difference between the two with precision--and delightful good humor."--Charles Wheelan, senior lecturer and Policy Fellow, Rockefeller Center, Dartmouth College, author of Naked Economics "A Field Guide to Lies by the neuroscientist Daniel Levitin lays out the many ways in which each of us can be fooled and misled by numbers and logic, as well as the modes of critical thinking we will need to overcome this."--The Wall Street Journal "Mr Levitin is the perfect guide...If everyone could adopt the level of healthy statistical scepticism that Mr Levitin would like, political debate would be in much better shape."--The Economist "Valuable tools for anyone willing to evaluate claims and get to the truth of the matter."--Kirkus Reviews "[A]n essential guide for finding what's real amid the daily proliferation of texts, tweets and skewed stats, with smart tips for sharpening critical thinking skills." --The San Jose Mercury News"This useful, entertaining, and highly readable guide is ready to arm everyday citizens with the tools to combat the spread of spurious, and often ridiculous, information."--Library Journal "[A] book you may want to have close by at all times."--Success Magazine "[A Field Guide to Lies] serves as a kind of Strunk and White for sloppy thinkers."--New York Journal of Books "Entertaining and filled with helpful hints, A Field Guide to Lies is a valuable tool for navigating the daily data onslaught."--San Jose Mercury News"Smart and humorous....The tools anyone needs to tell good information from bad are in this definitive guide to critical thinking."--Shelf Awareness "Exceptional...practical and essential advice."--Big Think "An entertaining, user-friendly primer on evaluating data wisely."--The Washington Independent Review of Books "Everybody who cross-examines witnesses should read this book." -- Justice Patricia Rowbotham, Alberta Court of Appeal, Calgary "This is a wonderful book. It covers so many of the insights of science, logic, and statistics that the public needs to know, yet are sadly neglected in the education that most of us receive."--Edward K. Cheng, Tarkington Chair of Teaching Excellence and professor of law at Vanderbilt Law School "Hits on the most important issues around statistical literacy, and uses good examples to illustrate its points. I could not put this book down. Reading it has been a pleasure, believe me. I am so impressed with Levitin's writing style, which is clear and simple, unlike much of the murky stuff that is written by statisticians and many others."--Morris Olitsky, former vice president, Market Research and Analysis, Prudential Financial; statistician, USDA "Insightful and entertaining--an excellent work."--Gregg Gascon, Biomedical Informatics, the Ohio State University "Just as Strunk and White taught us how to communicate better, A Field Guide to Lies is an indispensable guide to thinking better. As Big Data becomes a dominant theme in our culture, we are all obliged to sharpen our critical thinking so as to thwart the forces of obfuscation. Levitin has done a great service here."--Jasper Rine, professor of Genetics, Genomics, and Development, UC Berkeley "Not since Huff's classic How to Lie with Statistics has a book so clearly described how numbers can be used to deceive and misdirect. Levitin shows how to critically evaluate claims that charlatans, the media, and politicians would have us believe."--Stan Lazic, team leader in quantitative biology at AstraZeneca "A must read! Professor Levitin convinces the reader why critical thinking has become even more crucial in the Information Age. As we are consistently bombarded with information, let's question its veracity and acquire the tools to analyze it."--Isabelle Bajeux-Besnainou, dean and professor of finance, Desautels Faculty of Management, McGill University "No book could be more timely. An important book for everyone to read. Essential to where western democracies are going."--Janice Stein, Founding Director, Munk School of Global Affairs, University of Toronto "Well researched, and provides a valuable guide to assist the public with a methodology for evaluating the truth behind this cacophony of information that constantly inundates."--Patrick Martin, magician "[A] valuable primer on critical thinking that convincingly illustrates the prevalence of misinformation in everyday life."--Publishers Weekly "Mr Levitin is the perfect guide...If everyone could adopt the level of healthy statistical scepticism that Mr Levitin would like, political debate would be in much better shape."--The Economist "Levitin belongs to a best-selling group of experts--Daniel Kahneman, Gerd Gigerenzer, David Spiegelhalter, and a few more--who want to put us right on the pitfalls of dubious statistics and the various forms of bias that skew our decisions...There can hardly be a more important message at this moment in history, and until everyone gets it, all are welcome to keep pumping it out and Levitin is perhaps primus inter pares...His message is bracing...[and] all we have to guard against a new Dark Age."--The Arts Desk